Adobe informs users that using old versions of CC apps could lead to lawsuits from third parties

Last week, Adobe informed Creative Cloud subscribers that programs older than the two most recent version releases would no longer be available to download. Now, Adobe has sent out an email warning subscribers that continuing to use older software could put them at risk of getting sued by third parties.

Below is a transcription of the text sent to a number of Creative Cloud subscribers:

Dear Valued Creative Cloud Customer,

We have an update to share with you regarding Creative Cloud version download availability. For customers who have not yet updated to the latest version of Creative Cloud, please note that you are no longer licensed to use certain older versions of the applications or deploy packages containing these older versions. We ask that your organization discontinues all usage of the unauthorized products listed in the table below, and instead update to the authorized versions provided. You will continue to receive all the value that Creative Cloud has to offer, but with more advanced features, capabilities and security. Please be aware that if you continue to use or deploy the older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud, you will not have third-party claim coverage pursuant to your contract with Adobe. Should you continue to use or deploy these unauthorized versions, you may be at risk of potential claims of infringement by third parties.

Here's what to do next:

• If your users have self-service access to Creative Cloud via the CC Desktop App, you should encourage them to upgrade their software. • If you package and deploy products to your users, then you should go to the Adobe Admin Console and create new packages from the versions available • If you are still licensing with a serial number, you should continue to create packages using Creative Cloud Packager • Finally, we advise that you un-install unauthorized versions and delete pre-existing packages to prevent future accidental deployments.

Adobe's Customer Support organization is available to answer any questions about upgrading your Creative Cloud software. Please contact them directly should you have any questions. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause and thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely, The Adobe Team

Below is a list of the unauthorized versions of software addressed in the message:

Based on the information provided in the email, as well as previous complaints filed by third parties, it sounds as though the licensing agreement Adobe had for technologies inside select Creative Cloud programs has run out with whatever entities it was licensing it from.

It's unknown at this time what specific technologies were licensed and who they were licensed from, but as Apple Insider has noted, Dolby may very well be one of the companies, as it sued Adobe last year for copyright infringement. Specifically, Dolby's complaint claimed Adobe was under-reporting how many Creative Cloud subscribers it had, which affected revenue from the licensing fee it negotiated and agreed upon with Adobe for its audio encoders and other software technologies.

DPReview contacted Adobe for comment on the message that was sent out as well as more details on the matter and below is the response we received:

Adobe recently discontinued certain older versions of Creative Cloud applications. Customers using those versions have been notified that they are no longer licensed to use them and were provided guidance on how to upgrade to the latest authorized versions. Unfortunately, customers who continue to use or deploy older, unauthorized versions of Creative Cloud may face potential claims of infringement by third parties.

Comments

I cancelled my subscription when my aging computer could no longer keep up with their updates. Probably going to buy a new computer soon but will not go back to Adobe subscription. At the rate they keep updating I'm afraid even a new computer will soon be unable to use Adobe. I have always been a Photoshop fan but won't go back.

I finally tried it. It kept telling me I had updates and when I tried it said there was no internet connection. I never could make it connect. Any program that cannot handle something this basic is not on my computer.

You are just ridiculous, just this to not say other words more appropriate to your attitude. We are not perennial puppets attached to your threads. And not even slave subjects to your ill-concealed hegemonic will.

We continue to do as we want, free and freely, without changing a single comma, as we do by years.

If someone uses LR 2015 99% of the time, what would be a logical best-step for a non-Adobe product? Here is the type of work I do www.kissmykite com almost 100% edited with LR and some Canon DPP for CR2 color conversation to TIFF then edited in LR

They must be feeling the pressure from the competition such as Affinity Photo and CaptureOne, which are just as good, if not better than, Photoshop and Lightroom. However, trying to force your clientele to upgrade to more expensive options is negative marketing and will only drive more clients to other products!

Combine this with Apple's notion of not providing operating system updates to hardware that can actually run the new OS (e.g. Mac Mini 2009 and Sierra and newer etc. - can only be hacked to run) and Adobe's notion to only compile PS towards the macOS SDK with version numer being current minus 2...

What you get is anyone who was renting CC and using it with OSX 10.9 Mavericks and below is suddenly out of an option to run legally...

Forced update to 10.10 or 10.11 in order to use CC 2018... CC 2019 requires macOS 10.12. Well, folks get rich and buy new hardware you don't need. CC won't lead to vendor lock in? Well, until now they did a decent job of it with everyone being able to choose whatever they liked for their monthly fee... This is game changing though. Just ponder where this road leads, I don't like it one bit.

If you owned CS6 applications they are included in the naughty list even though you own a perpetual license to use. Adobe is artificially limiting you from using it because they broke their 3rd party contract. Perhaps we should all ask for a full refund.

Not quite. If you bought the applications you own the applications, period. CS6 used to be available for CC subscribers as well though and that's what this is about. Anyone who did not "own" CS6 but rented it for all these years now has the problem that Adobe says sorry, as of now that version is no longer available for rent.

No. Sold products are fine. It's only the subscription products that are affected. If you're the typical subscriber who always runs whatever the latest CC version is, this announcement doesn't affect you. This only affects subscribers who run old versions for whatever reason.

Not sure if anybody has said this clearly on DPR, but from evidence and discussion gathered elsewhere, it seems far more likely that Adobe would be liable, not the end users. So by sending this email, they're trying to shift responsibility.

This might get them a discount in court, but not an exoneration. Adobe's statement also seems carefully worded to avoid a defamation suit from the "third parties" (Dolby?)

I would also suggest that this:"we advise that you un-install unauthorized versions and delete pre-existing packages to prevent future accidental deployments."

goes way beyond what a normal user could reasonably be expected to comprehend, let alone execute. (Where and what are these "packages"? How do I delete them?) If users actually went through with attempting this, I bet Adobe would get a lot of support calls/upset and probably cancelling customers.

If I understand rightly, Adobe does not want to provide Dolby with details of how many subscribers, so it is n't sure if Adobe is paying royalties. This is in the contract, so Adobe should give Dolby the information it needs. If Adobe is under declaring the number of users, then it is right Dolby take legal actions.

Unless of course, Adobe is cooking and the Dolby discovery will blow the lid.

I could be wrong, but Adobe customers paid good money for the software and should not be holding back on Dolby.

I to run CS6 - side by side with Affinity Photo (Better with layers) , DXO Photo lab (Better with Raw conversion ! - except on Fuji .... ?!?!? ) - Luminar (Better with creatives) - the only reason I keep PS CS6 is the ability to handle very large .psd files : .PSB - once others master that PS is gone after 20 years faithful use.

What I do not like is CC only works on Windows 10. I have 2 family computers with Windows 7 Professional, as I am not a fan of Windows 10.Windows 7 Pro I find so much easier to configure and troubleshoot. If I upgrade to CC then I am forced to use Windows 10 as the latest CC only works on Win 10.Another great argument to go to Mac instead of Windows?

Heh, this is the flip side of the sub model (which I'm personally not averse to, but I *am* against having a sub combo'd with forced cloud storage)... Licensing gets trickier. It's kinda ridiculous that Adobe would put the onus on users here, just deactivate the products to protect costumers and deal with the fallback or pay the licensing and don't burden customers with all this.

To clarify, this only applies to paying Creative Cloud customers who just haven’t bothered updating (even though they’re entitled to as part of their subscription)? If so, this is a bit of a heavy-handed approach, but I can understand if they’re working on a settlement to the lawsuit that requires their users to upgrade to non-infringing versions of CC.

Now, if they’re trying to extort money out of users of the old Creative Suite products (who hold perpetual licenses to these), then that’s another story entirely. But I don’t think that’s the case, since I own CS6 and haven’t received any communication from them.

Sometimes you can't upgrade, even if you want to, and are entitled to.My older iMac can't run the newest OSX, and consequently can't run the newest Photoshop. My version is 19.1.8, so I'm just off Adobe's naughty list ... for the moment. I do get camera raw updates, but not much else. Until I plump for a new computer, I'm out of luck.

Adobe *may* be doing something about the perpetual licensees, but in a subtle way: Adobe is declaring many, many thousands of license numbers 'invalid', due to everything from being purchased from a 'non-authorized Adobe dealer', to being a resale of volume licenses, to not fully and properly registering the product with your Adobe profile - all the way to Adobe turning off your license 'just because', even to people who bought the CS package from Adobe itself (!!) - and you won't be able to reinstall from this point onwards. You can use your current install but not transfer it to anyone, or any new hardware, in any way.

It's become a rampant report of users being locked out of reusing their software. Happened to me last night as I was trying to install my CS6 on a new laptop, and Adobe makes it onerous to prove that your license is indeed valid, so you're SOL pretty much.

@dinoSnake: That reminds me, I went through a similar issue with Windows - the license stipulated you could only have one activation at a time (that’s fine, I did purchase a license for each PC I had), and apparently Microsoft enforced that by limiting the number of total activations (that is, reinstallations/reactivations on the same machine), assuming that if you activated Windows a certain number of times, you were probably sharing it. I had to call Microsoft tech support (in India, of course) to explain the issue, and was given... one more activation. Yep, from then on, I’d have to call for an exception every time I reinstalled. Crikey...

FWIW, I’m moving away from Adobe software now - I didn’t upgrade Lightroom past 4 because 5 didn’t have anything I needed, and after that they went to the subscription model. LR4 no longer interfaces with Google Maps, and since geotagging is important to me, I’m switching to DigiKam.

I can see some people might not want to upgrade mid-project, but if you have a valid license for PS CC upgrading is generally a good thing, so why are people foaming at the mouth? (Really asking!)(Presumably if you stopped paying you aren't allowed to use the software anyway...)

I will tell you why.Because after one of updates PS started to crash every time I am trying to print multi-layer file!I need to merge it into one layer, then copy it and create new file, paste it, flatten image and print from there!Reinstall did not help! It happened after one of updates.So I can see why some people do not want to modify (update) something that’s works well.

Yes the last thing you want to be doing when you're working on an important project, or just when you're really busy, is upgrading a key piece of software. As Rensol and others have said, every time you install new software you risk having issues. Not to mention the fact that a newer version may not even be compatible with your hardware or current OS. Forcing people to upgrade with zero notice is really poor practice and poor customer service, and seems to be just passing on the result of Adobe's mistakes to paying customers. At the very least, people should have been given several months' notice about this. Very unprofessional.

For example because the latest versions of CC don't run on their hardware. Everything CC 2019 is macOS 10.12 minimum. Not because it needs to be but because Adobe decided to compile against that macOS SDK to limit their testing and support work. Apple in turn "restricted" the availability of 10.12 to Macs beyond a certain age, without technical need as 10.12 can be hacked to run on older hardware - but you don't get official security patches etc. All the same nonsense...

One could argue: In the past you had for example a newspaper subscription. It's the same.But it's not :) Because you may still have your old newspapers even when your subscription of the fake news media newspapers is long expired.In and increasingly digitalized world you are steadily being dispossessed.For example movies, music, cloud storage ... One day we will own nothing and the government will be 1 click away from ruining your life if you are not compliant to the system....

The *difference* is that you are paying your newspaper for daily copies of *new* material, not paying to be able to reuse the same materials you had before. You are paying for new writing, new layouts, new paper, new ink, new packaging and new delivery. You are not paying to be allowed to reopen an old newspaper to look at it - you paid for it once, it's there for you to use as you please.

You can continue to use it but, quite often but not 100%, when you attempt to reinstall it comes the problem: Adobe is invalidating many, many old license numbers. We don't know if it is 100% due to this issue but I feel it is likely - I believe Adobe is trying to get their confirmed installed subscription numbers down to a level that agrees with what they have been [not] telling Dolby Labs, so if they need to bring displays up in court they can make the best defense they can.

I started using Capture One a few years ago and actually liked it, but for various reasons, went back to Photoshop. I think it's time to revisit Capture One and finally uninstall Photoshop. I never did like this subscription idea and it is coming to a head now for sure. Bye bye Adobe!

Adobe, you are 'so yesterday' to an ever growing list of defectors. I wish every alternative software developer the very best in gaining new customers during this turning point in creative software history.

I agree with you about Affinity. Then again, all good software is complicated to use until you learn it. I always thought Indesign was relatively easy but I've been on it since version 1.0. I also think Illustrator is difficult to use and probably because they are so dissimilar in their workings. Being both Adobe they should be more similar than just the icon or keyboard shortcut.

CS6 contains Photoshop 13.0. It seems that CS users are getting swept up in a license registration crackdown, which may or may not be associated with the issue that this story covers (I believe it *does*), so you *may* have your license revoked the next time you try to install CS6.

You can contact Adobe to see if your license is considered valid or not, or wait until your next install attempt. If you bought your copy CS6 at pretty much any level of discount, then you are pretty high at risk of getting your license revoked.

Thanks for clarifying. Sounds like everyone will be using CC in the not too distant future if continuing with Photoshop. Once a reinstall is finally needed, from hard drive crash, or updating a computer.

I checked out the numbers up there and the numbers indicate CS6 apps are included in the "banned" list. So even though you paid for a perpetual license, they are taking it back. Perhaps we can all ask for refunds now for CS6.

From Appleinsider.com"According to Dolby's legal filing, this agreement was subject to the figures Adobe reported being examined by a third-party audit. "When Dolby sought to exercise its right to audit Adobe's books and records to ensure proper reporting and payment, Adobe refused to engage in even basic auditing and information sharing practices; practices that Adobe itself had demanded of its own licensees," says the filing.

"Adobe apparently determined that it was better to spend years withholding this information from Dolby than to allow Dolby to understand the full scope of Adobe's contractual breaches," it continues. "Yet the limited information that Dolby has reviewed to-date demonstrates that Adobe included Dolby technologies in numerous Adobe software products and collections of products, but refused to report each sale or pay the agreed-upon royalties owed to Dolby."

So Adobe is inconveniencing and annoying a large number of its customers because they're in the middle of a dispute with another company (Dolby) over technologies that Adobe licensed and put into their products, but apparently didn't pay for. The heavy-handed way in which Adobe is doing this is probably going to lose them a lot of customers, as they're putting a lot of the burden of this dispute on their users. Dolby is unlikely to sue individual users over infringing older versions of Adobe software, but Adobe is more or less threatening its users with the prospect of possible legal action by Dolby which is unlikely to happen. Adobe is using this "threat" to get their users to help them with their current "solution", which is to get all users to "upgrade" to non-infringing versions. This is all really Adobe's problem to work out with Dolby, but Adobe is making its users implement the "solution", inconveniencing many of them in the process. Nice going, Adobe.

I'm assuming that you're talking about Photo CDs, correct? If that's the case you should check with LaserSoft Imaging to see if they still offer their SilverFast Photo CD software, or whether another one of their products will open the PCD file format. I have SilverFast Photo CD, but it's an older version (6.x) and the latest versions of that software is version 8.x.

This is crazy. There's no mandatory update clause in the license agreement to justify this. Do you know how much of a headache it is to update Premiere in the middle of an ongoing project? Now think in terms of tens or hundreds of ongoing projects, linked to one another.The nerve of these cheapskates is infuriating.

Depends on the licence agreement. But unlike for subscription, where you keep "agreeing" changes to use the service, for non-subscription software they stay the same as in the moment you buy the software.

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